Mariya Shvarnovna of Ossetia (1155-1205)
|contributors=Afil |birth_year=1155 |birth_month=8 |birth_day=10 |death_year=1205 |death_month=3 |death_day=19 |death_locality=Vladimir, Russia |death_nation-subdiv1=Vladimir Oblast |death_nation=Russia |ifmarried-g1=true |remains_address=Knyaginin Dormition Monastery |remains_locality=Vladimir |remains_nation-subdiv1=Vladimir Oblast |remains_nation=Russia |globals= }} Maria Shvarnovna (as Maria Vsevolzhaya) (10 August 1155-19 March 1205, Vladimir) - the first wife of Grand Prince Vsevolod III Yuryevich of Vladimir. She was canonized. Biography According to the chronicle, Maria Shvarnovna was born on first of the Feasts of the Saviour, that is, the first day of the Dormition fast ПСРЛ, Т, 2, Стб.376 под 1149 г. // Цитируется по Литвина А. Ф., Успенский Ф. Б. Кем была «Мария Всеволожая»? Отчество и происхождение трех русских княгинь XII в. // А. Ф. Литвина, Ф. Б. Успенский. Выбор имени у русских князей в X—XVI вв.: Династическая история сквозь призму антропонимики. — М.: Индрик, 2006. (Труды по филологии и истории.) Экскурс 5. С. 368—381, but the existence of such a post in pre-Mongol Rus is being questioned. There were doubts that the whole story about the birth of MariaФранчук, 1988, с. 172 // Цитируется по Литвина А. Ф., Успенский Ф. Б. Кем была «Мария Всеволожая»? Отчество и происхождение трех русских княгинь XII в. // А. Ф. Литвина, Ф. Б. Успенский. Выбор имени у русских князей в X—XVI вв.: Династическая история сквозь призму антропонимики. — М.: Индрик, 2006. (Труды по филологии и истории.) Экскурс 5. С. 368—381 . In his History Treaty, Karamzin mentions that in the Knyaginin Dormition Monastery in Vladimir there was a tombstone named Marfa Shvarnovna Карамзин, История государства Российского, т.3, прим. 62. It was said that this name was taken by Mary when she became a nun, but also that if could be the grave of Maria Shvarnovna's sister. Maria's origins are disputed. Some sources say she was Ossetian or Alan and connected to the Georgian royal house, while others, such as the Uspensky Sbornik (a 13th-century text now housed in the Russian State Museum in Moscow), say she was Moravian. M. V. Shchepkina posited the idea that the Sbornik was compiled for Maria in 1199-1206,Щепкина М.В. О происхождении Успенского сборника // Древнерусское искусство. Рукописная книга. Сб.1 – М.,1972., стр. 73, 63. and thus the claims that she was Moravian might be more believable than the other claims, but Caucasian chronicles claim Vsevolod traveled to Tbilisi in 1170 (from Constantinople), where he was married to Mariya at the suggestion of the Georgian King. The date of her death is also uncertain, as 19 March 1205 is also given in some accounts. The Novgorod First Chronicle mentions her death under the year 1205, but does not give an exact day.A. N. Nasonov, ed., Novgorodskaya Pervaia Letopis: Starshego i Mladshego Izvodov (Leningrad and Moscow: ANSSS, 1950), 50, 246. As it is mentioned after her son Konstantin's arrival in Novgorod on March 20, it would seem she died after that, perhaps in May. .]] Vsevolod was enthroned in Vladimir (in 1176), when he was already married, and the first child of the prince's couple was born approximately in 1178. During her marriage, Mary gave birth to twelve children, including eight sons (four of whom were later, at different times, Grand Princes of Vladimir) and four daughters. The Grand Princess patronized books, sciences and the arts, was distinguished by piety and wisdom, richly decorated churches, later hagiographers compared her with Princess Olga and Theodora . Mariya Shvarnovna was buried in the church of St. Theotokos of the Dormition Cathedral of the Monastery. Later, before the transfer of the Grand Princes's throne to Moscow, the monastery served as the family burial vault of the princesses and princess of the Grand Prince of Vladimir's house. After the death of his first wife, in 1209, Vsevolod III Yuryevich of Vladimir married the daughter of the Prince of Polotsk. Mariya is venerated as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church and is credited with founding several convents, most notably the Convent of the Dormition, known as the Knyaginin Dormition Monastery ( ) in Vladimir on the Kliazma. According to several accounts, the convent was founded in 1200 and Mariya took the schema and the name Marfa (although this would have required her to have ended her marriage with Vsevolod, who outlived her by six years). She and her sister, Anna, were buried in the convent and her relics, along with those of several other saints, including Aleksandr Nevsky's first wife, Princess Aleksandra, and his daughter are still kept there. Children * Sbislava Vsevolodovna (born 26 October 1178). * Vseslava Vsevolodovna Married Rostislav Yaroslavich, Prince of Snov. He was a son of Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich, Prince of Chernigov. His paternal grandfather was Vsevolod II of Kiev. * Verchoslava Vsevolodovna . Married Rostislav II of Kiev. * Konstantin Vsevolodovich (18 May 1186 – 2 February 1218). * Boris Vsevolodovich (c1187–1188). * Gleb Vsevolodovich (d. 29 September 1189). * Yuri Vsevolodovich (1189 – 4 March 1238). * Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (8 February 1191 – 30 September 1246). * Vladimir Vsevolodovich, Prince of Starodub (25 October 1192 – 6 January 1227). * Alyona Vsevolodovna (d. 30 December 1203). * Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich (27 March 1196 – 3 February 1252). * Ivan Vsevolodovich, Prince of Starodub (28 November 1197 – after 1247). * Anna Vsevolodovna Married Vladimir, Prince of Belgorod (d. 1239). See also List of canonized Russian princes Notes Category: Grand Princesses of Vladimir Category:Eastern Orthodox royal saints Category:13th-century Christian saints Category:Alans Category:Burials at the Knyaginin Dormition Monastery